


Alessandria

by Notfye



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology, Hellenistic Religion & Lore, Norse Religion & Lore, Original Work
Genre: A whole lot of Greek influence, Dragons, F/F, F/M, Magic, Mermaids, Shapeshifting, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-27
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-03-10 01:25:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13493898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Notfye/pseuds/Notfye
Summary: Sing, O Muse, of the daughter of Charis.





	Alessandria

**Author's Note:**

> Full disclosure I wrote this for a grade, my friend told me to post it, but I didn't want to because I'm a little embarrassed by it. But I got the grade for it back today and I ended up getting a perfect score, and my teacher complimented my writing style, so that is literally the only reason I've got the confidence to post this. (Also, I taught myself dactylic hexameter for this, which is only rarely used in English and I'm still proud.)
> 
> Real talk tho I literally just smashed Sigurd, the Iliad, and Beowulf together and then went "hm, needs more women," so just know what you're getting yourself into.

Sing, O Muse, of the daughter of Charis, the maiden of the sea, and her accomplishments on the earth. Sing of her life, long and winding, sing of her heroic deeds. Sing of how she rose and how she came down from her fame, sing of her start. 

Many years before a fish or a girl or any victory in war, there was a young woman named Charis, who cast a spell. The spell that she cast was to bring her truest love to her, someone who would care and watch over her for the rest of her days. 

She would, later, if asked about this event, say that she was young and not particularly good at witchcraft, laugh it off and change the subject. She had made a mistake in the spell, one that she cannot name, as she never managed to find what had gone wrong, but instead of a good man, she got a good daughter from a fairly bad man, who would grow to be a better woman than both her mother and father. 

When Charis was heavily pregnant, and struggling to contain her heartbreak, The Fish came to her, and said, “The daughter,

Babe of yours, 

Be not for

The sea. 

She is for

The earth, for

 

“The land. It’s

To bring her

To her glo-

  1. Let her



Go when stars

Say to.”

When it had finished speaking, The Fish swam away.

Charis, a few weeks after this event, and after many hours, gave birth to a girl, fair-haired and honey-eyed. As a babe, Charis would remark, in her old age to children clamoring for stories, her daughter didn’t look extraordinary at all. She just looked like a baby. 

In the following years, Alessandria grew into a young mermaid. At eleven, she had made many friends, the closest of which being a young girl called Maris. Younger and smaller than Alessandria, Maris found it easy to follow her and didn’t find it alarming nor was dissatisfied that she was not the leader in the relationship. They swam and explored the sea together, finding liberty in the small time they were allowed away from their parents, as all children do. 

During one of their explorations, the two came across a crystal, partially hidden in the sand. Maris bent over to look at it, while Alessandria reached for it. The moment her fingertips grazed the stone, she found that she could no longer breathe, and so swam frantically for the surface on a sudden instinct. 

Maris watched from below, still frozen in the same position as before in fear and anxiety. She saw that Alessandria no longer had a tail, that there were things in place of it that she could not name. She did not move again until she saw Alessandria breach the surface, then, struck finally by what she had just seen, she ran to where the mothers were conversing. 

She explained what she had seen, clinging to her mother, and led the women to where she and Alessandria had been a moment before. Alessandria was no longer above them, instead, all that remained was the crystal. Charis gingerly lifted it up, though nothing happened with her touch. The crystal appeared no more than an ordinary stone. Rubbing her finger along a ridge in the gem, she said, “I had expected this from before her birth.”

“Has it been a long enough time with her that you will be able to heal?” asked Maris’ mother, as she knew of the prophecy. It had been shared like gossip between Charis’ friends. 

“Isn’t that the plight of all mothers?” Charis returned, “That we never have enough time with our children?”

Charis carried the stone home with her and tucked it under her pillow, a sharp reminder of her lost daughter. 

Above, on the beach, Alessandria was brought in by the tide. A couple found her washed ashore, clothesless, dozing on the sand. The wife went back to their home to find an old dress of hers that she hoped would fit the girl, while her husband tried to rouse the girl. 

Upon returning, the wife found her husband and Alessandria talking, her husband bending down slightly to hear over the cacophony of the waves and Alessandra, now sitting with her knees tucked up to her chest. 

“Here, my dear,” said the wife, sweeping the dress out in front of her, “put this on. And tell us your name, yes?”

Alessandria stood and tugged the dress on over her head, her hair almost immediately soaking a wet spot in the back. 

“My name is Alessandria,” she replied. “I am from the sea.”

The husband looked to his wife and asked, “Is she mad?”

The wife returned his question with a confused face and turned back to Alessandria and asked her, “What do you mean, you are from the sea?”

Alessandria told both the husband and wife of the crystal and how she had found herself there.

“It is not the oddest thing I have ever heard,” said the wife, while the husband, still untrusting of the girl, nodded absently. 

All the same, the two took the girl back up to their home, which stood upon the rocks that shot up from the beach like turrets. There, upon seeing the home, even Alessandria realized that the man and wife were of some wealth. The walls were of white stone, the building tall. Colorful, light curtains were used to decorate the doors to the balcony on the top floor, and they billowed and rippled in the sea wind. It looked like a dream, growing up from the sandy ground. The couple brought the Alessandria inside and sent someone to prepare a room for her to stay in. When she was told she could go and explore it, she found that her room overlooked the ocean.

She returned to the lower level of the house and asked, “What are your names?”

The husband looked up from the book in his hands, while the wife turned to look at her.

“Names?” the husband asked.

“Yes,” said Alessandria back. 

The wife looked at her husband, “My name is Lydia. My husband’s is Charles.”

“Well, I thank you for your kindness,” said Alessandria. 

“We have sent a messenger to a tailor in town,” said Charles, “He will come tomorrow to measure you.”

Lydia picked up where her husband left off, “Until your clothes are finished, you can wear things that I do not wear anymore.” 

That night, as Alessandria was falling asleep, she heard a voice coming from her balcony. Carefully, she crept over to the shades and pulled them back quickly, prepared for attack. However, when she pulled the curtains back, she saw no human, only a full moon sitting heavily above the ocean. 

But then, she looked down, and found a crow sitting upon the large stone railing. 

“Hello,” she said. Her borrowed nightgown rippled in the wind. 

The Crow began to sing:

“Greetings young 

Babe, daughter, 

Directed 

By desti-

ny towards 

Great deeds.”

“Who are you?” asked Alessandria. 

“Fate, some will 

Say, others 

Say that in 

Me is power 

Greater than 

Most find

 

“Feasible. 

I think that

Notions of

Most men are

Easy, 

Too fragile. 

 

“I am of

More than that. 

No ti-

ny, witless

Thoughts can match

My mind. 

 

“No words could 

Seize me,

Even ones

I would put,

Greatly,

To use.”

“Why are you here?” Alessandria didn’t understand why the oracle had come back. “Isn’t your work with me done?” She asked.

“My work is,” The Crow sang,

“To attend

To men of

Future glo-

  1. You will



Be great.”

Then, The Crow, evidently tired of the questions, spread its wings and flew away.

Alessandria, left confused in its wake, went back to her bed. She was tired above all else, however, and before she knew it, morning light was where The Crow had been the night before.

The next morning, Lydia came bustling into her room, bearing clothing and a hairbrush. She pulled Alessandria’s hair back into a braided bun, then gave her the clothing and told her, “Get dressed, but give a holler if you’re confused.”

Alessandria pulled on the many layers slowly, already resenting them after just the first two. She found them constricting and, though she kept her gracefulness while dressed in such clothing, she still thought of it as a sort of prison. 

The tailor arrived and measured her without great event, and soon departed in the same manner. Afterwards, Lydia sat her by a window with a needle and thread and taught her to sew. 

“You don’t do this where you’re from, do you?” Lydia asked. 

“No,” said Alessandria, “we have no clothes to sew where I am from.”

Lydia looked up from the fabric on her lap and blinked owlishly at Alessandria. Alessandria, so engrossed in getting her stitches right, didn’t notice. 

Soon, her clothes arrived, all in colors of parchment or the night sky or wildflowers. Alessandria thought the colors were beautiful but found the many layers tedious and unnecessary. They were too heavy for her and she decided they were unpractical with how close to the ocean she was. How was she to run and play in such things? How was she to learn to fight? 

When she complained about these things, her parents scoffed at her. “A lady does not run,” Lydia would say. Alessandria did not think they would believe her if she said that underwater, ladies did whatever they like.

Soon enough, though, this changed.

A few weeks after its first visit to Alessandria, The Crow came to Charles and Lydia in a dream, and told them to prepare Alessandria for war. 

“Why?” asked Charles, “There’s no war for her to fight in.”

“Even so,” added Lydia, “she is not a fighter. She is a lady.”

“You have little

Mind with matters

Like these. War

Soon will come 

She finds

Greatness there,” sang The Crow.

Then, the couple woke up, and, looking at each other, they both realized that they must listen.

The next day, Charles hired an arrangement of teachers for Alessandria. Among them were both tutors, to make her well educated, and instructors for the things she would need to know, according to The Crow. Additionally, she received lessons from Lydia on feminine skills. 

She was taught basic swordsmanship and the instructor found quickly that she was incredibly talented, and after teaching her how to properly move and act, decided that there was no more that he could do. 

After this, Charles brought her home a horse that he had approved of, white and dappled with grey, named Socius. Alessandria adored the animal at first sight, and realized that the creature would be her closest friend for as long as it should live. 

There was some debate about whether Alessandria would be allowed to wear trousers or not. Her mother believed that enough was enough, and she drew the line after swords and horses. Charles, however, thought she should get used to what she would be wearing in the future. The two came to a compromise, eventually. Alessandria was allowed to wear trousers, but only when she was practicing her riding, otherwise, she had to wear dresses. Lydia was also displeased with the news that Alessandria would not be riding side saddle, but it would be an unnecessary challenge to fight like that. 

When she could ride well enough, soon after she got her horse, Alessandria began to ride into town on her own, and speak to those of her own age. She found that she fit in better with the boys, that their games appealed more to her than acts of femininity. At first, they all tried to charm her into kissing them, as a girl had crossed the lines to speak with boys, and what else were they to do? But one by one, they all realized that she simply would do nothing of the sort. Some believed this was because she was too slow to pick up on the cues they dropped, others believed it was because she wasn’t yet interested in such things and, all coming to this conclusion around the same time, they decided having her as just another friend wasn’t so bad, either. 

She enjoyed what she learned with the tutors, but found it hard to concentrate on the subjects at hand, and could only really focus when doing an activity of some kind.

In the afternoons and evenings, Lydia would attempt to train her in ladylike pursuits, but often by that point in the day, Alessandria was too riled or too tired to make any effort in the area, and after years of such lessons, the only thing she found she could do was sew haphazardly and, at the best of times, preserve a jar’s worth of fruit.

Even after such long days, most times The Crow would appear and speak to her for a few minutes, very rarely giving her any information that she could use, but always singing. As she got older, The Crow began to visit more often.

The years spun like this for what may now be called a moment, but then felt sticky and slow, and, suddenly, it seemed, four years had passed. 

When Alessandria was fifteen, The Crows presence changed. For so long it had simply existed, giving Alessandria brief glimpses of her fate and little else, but now it seemed to think it was time to bring her towards her future.

“The kingdom,” The Crow sang,

“Needs help, and

You will not

Aid with it?

The shame

You will have.”

But for so long she did not budge. Yes, the kingdom was facing encroaching countries from all sides, so that it became only a sliver along the coast, but that had been happening her whole life. It was not time yet, in her mind, and she had yet to feel the pressures from the outside world pushing her forward, and so she stayed put in Charles and Lydia’s house on the cliff. The Crow continued to goad her for a year, until one night Alessandria said, “Fine. I will talk to Charles and Lydia in the morning.”

The Crow gave a grand push of its wings, and flew towards the sea.

In the morning, when she told them, Charles simply said, “Well, then it’s time to make your own sword.”

The two of them rode to the blacksmith in town, where Charles explained the situation to him and, begrudgingly, allowed Alessandria to work under his guidance.

Over weeks and months, Alessandria created a sword that would aid her in her future battles, and when it was finally finished, she tested it against many materials and found that it would not break. 

Soon after the sword was finished, both Alessandria and Charles rode to where the nearest group of infantry were, hoping to find someone there that was high-ranking enough to admit Alessandria.

At the camp that they came to, they found a commander, who, despite the challenges facing the army, seemed to be doing very little work. Charles got off his horse and approached him. From where Alessandria still was, she couldn’t hear the conversation they were having, but they eventually signalled her to come over. She dismounted her horse and lead it behind her. 

“You may join us,” The Commander said, “on one condition. You must go into the field and save a man from death. You may choose to go to whichever front you like, but there is one close to here that would be easiest. Bring the man you save back here.” He finished this all with a smug smile that Alessandria matched quickly.

Alessandria imagined that this would be easy, that she could simply go and find a man with a small wound that she could fix with a needle and a bit of string, to save the imaginary young man from infection, but when she got to the field, she found this was not the case. It was carnage, the men were like lambs to the slaughter, and it suddenly struck her why The Commander had chosen this task. Still, she galloped on her horse until she came to a man laying on the ground in a near abandoned part of the field, bloodied, but possibly still breathing. 

“Are you alive?” she called from above. 

“Yes,” the young man croaked. 

She hopped to the ground and kneeled beside him, and took in the mess that was his stomach. Torn to shreds by a sword, it seemed that there would be no way to save him. The ground around him was already becoming soaked with blood, and surely there was no way that she’d be able to fix him. 

Just then, a field mouse scampered before her. 

“I can help you,” it said. 

“How?” asked Alessandria, desperate. 

“I need something from the man. But if he gives it to me, he can carry on living.”

Alessandria turned to the man, who was in a dreamlike state, the light already nearly gone from his eyes. “What is it that you need?”

“Half of his soul,” said the mouse. 

Alessandria’s head snapped back towards the mouse, “You’re not serious.”

“It is a hefty cost to keep living when one should be dead.” 

So, without any time to lose, Alessandria asked the man, “Will you give up half your soul to keep on living?”

The man gave a whispery, “Yes.”

And so, Alessandria watched as the man was stitched back together, pulling first the muscles back into place, woven together once again, and then the skin over it. 

Alessandria turned back, once more to the mouse, said, “Thank you,” and stroked along its head, once, very gently. 

Then she stood up, and helped the man up as well, told him to sit behind her on her horse as he was in “no shape to be walking,” and he followed direction without protest. Together, they rode back to where The Commander was. 

“Here,” said Alessandria “I have saved this man from death.”

And so The Commander, unhappily, looked at the both of them. He asked the man, “Is this true? Had you been dying?”

“Yes,” said the man, without conviction or tone. 

“And this girl saved you?”

“Yes,” said the man again, in the same way. 

“How did she do it?” asked The Commander, with scrutiny. 

“I could not tell you that. I was near unconsciousness at that point.”

Alessandria herself did not volunteer any reasons, either. 

The Commander looked at Alessandria with a scowl, but still said, “You did meet what I asked of you, and so, you may join us.”

Alessandria made friends in the ranks, many of the men unable to despise her despite their displeasure at her inclusion. She was simply too talented, and though they burned at her presence at first, the fires seemed to run out of air with time. 

She was not particularly close with any of these men, though, except for one.  

She became friends with a boy named Percy, who seemed perhaps a little younger than he actually was, likely because he had yet to grow into his age. They made quite a pair, Alessandria removed from emotions and affections most of the time, and Percy a kind, young soul. 

In truth, the reason they were so close was because Percy was the only man in the camp who seemed wholly unbothered by her being a girl, and in such circumstances, things like that can lead to lifelong friendships. 

Alessandria rose above the rest of the men quickly and with ease. It became apparent that the reason for the countries shirking area was not from a lack of men, but rather from a lack of guidance for those men. The companies were disorganized and sloppy, and in such a state, could hardly put a dent in the enemy.

She asked The Commander, “Is this ordinary? Why are we so disorganized?”

He bristled only slightly at her questions. They had become amicable with each other in the past weeks, and The Commander found that he did not hate Alessandria as much as he had expected to, but still, the instinctive hate had not drained entirely.

“It has been like this for years, none of the higher-ups are doing anything about it. Or, if they are, it isn’t working,” he responded.

“Why haven’t they been replaced?”

“There is no one worthwhile to replace them.”

“Is there anything to be done?”

“Not unless anyone can come up with anything to help.” He said this quite harshly; newfound conviviality can only go so far. 

Alessandria nodded and went back to her tent, determined to create some way that they might still win against the encroaching companies. It took her many days, but eventually she divised something that she believed would work, if carried out correctly.

She presented this to The Commander, who thanked her and said, “I will show this to the men above me.” She did not hear more on this topic for nearly a month, but then The Commander called her aside and said, “We will try it.”

In this way, the country’s luck turned, and soon, they were winning all of the battles that they needed to, starting on one front and then spreading out to the rest of them.

During this time in the army, Alessandria was given better treatment than what she had started with. In an act of kindness, The Commander made sure that she was not robbed of what she deserved for coming up with the strategy, and so, she rose in rank.

This complicated her friendship with Percy, as when she was allowed to join the army she was given a rule of not being allowed to be in any man’s tent after dark, and while this had not been a problem when she was of the same rank as Percy, her new rank made it so that she could rarely see him during the day. They spent evenings together, always with one of them having to sneak back to their own tent afterwards, so that they would not be caught.

During one of these evenings together, Percy left then tent for a moment to see whether the camp was quiet yet. As soon as he was gone, a mouse scampered in from under an edge of the fabric walls.

“Are you the same one as before?” Alessandria asked.

“Yes,” said the mouse.

“No one here is dead,” said Alessandria.

“I’m not here for that this time. I’m here to warn you.”

“Of what?” asked Alessandria. She did not entirely trust the mouse, as she had seen what had become of the soldier she had brought back to life. He had never looked anything but unfeeling, his eyes blank and demeanor grey. 

She had watched as he, purposely, she thought, threw himself in front of another’s sword in the next battle.

“That boy, who was just here,” said the mouse. “He is no good for you. It would be best for you to drop him before this goes on much longer.”

Alessandria would have responded, but once the mouse stopped talking, they heard approaching footsteps and a moment later, Percy came back into the tent. The mouse ducked back under the fabric wall.

“You should get going,” he said, “It’s starting to get quiet out there, they’ll hear you moving around when you’re walking back towards your tent if you don’t leave soon.”

Alessandria decided, as she was trying to make her way back to her own tent, that it would be best to disregard the words of the mouse for now. But then she thought, perhaps the mouse was related to The Crow somehow, and was trying to guide her in a similar fashion. She went to bed that night, her head aching from wondering for so long, and found that her sleep was an unrestful one.

Still, after the visit from the mouse, Alessandria continued to spend her evenings with Percy. She never found any sort of sinister look in his eyes and did not get the feeling that he harbored ill will. Slowly, she forgot the mouse had visited at all.

Sometime after Alessandria’s plan was put in place and they country started taking its land back, she was sent home on leave, as part of a job well done, and told that at the end of it, she would be meeting with the queen for a ceremony of sorts. She spent the first two days of this leave at her parents house, and on the third day, when she was standing to her knees in the ocean, a crab came to Alessandria and said, “Your childhood friend, Maris, is in danger. She has been taken by a dragon.”

Alessandria cupped the crab in her hands, picked it up out of the water, and asked, “Where is this dragon?”

“Within the underwater caves. Your mother has sent me to you. She says that you are the only one who will be able to get her back.”

“How am I to breathe underwater? I believe I gave that up long ago,” she said, with a quirk of the lips. 

“If you eat daisies,” said the crab, “You’ll be able to breathe underwater once again.”

So Alessandria went back to her home, where she took her horse from his stable and rode to the market. She thought that she might find some daisies at the flower vendor, but there were none there, so instead, she rode to the country. There, Alessandria found hills upon hills of daisies. She picked enough to fill a satchel. 

It was evening by this time, so she decided to spend the night in the meadow. At first light, she rode back. When she arrived home, her parents asked her where she had been. Alessandria told them of what had happened to Maris, and why she needed the daisies. Her parents seemed to understand, so she went up to her room to write a short note to Percy, telling him what had happened and what had yet to. She sent it off with a messenger and hoped it would reach him quickly. Then she ate a daisy and returned downstairs. 

The family made their way down to the beach together. There, Charles and Lydia embraced and kissed their daughter, this danger somehow worse than the military. Alessandria pulled away, and smiled. In just a smock, she jumped into the sea. 

At first, she could not remember the way to her old home. She was young when she had last been here, and all early memories are often water-like, changing with suggestion. But soon, she found the way back, past coral and seaweed. Eventually, she started seeing merfolk. Some looked at her, perplexed, while others looked as though they might recognize her, either from her days as a child or from her heroic deeds. She asked one, “Excuse me, could you tell me where I might find Charis?”

He pointed to a little cave not far off, “There is her house, but I do not know if she is there right now.”

So she swam over to what was once her home, so long ago, and found that Charis was, in fact, home. 

“Mother?” Alessandria called. 

Her mother turned. Charis stilled looked the same, mostly, her face still had fine features and her eyes were still green, but there were changes in the ten years since they had seen each other. Charis’ face had little lines starting to appear on her face, the skin on her hands had grown thin. The hair around her temples was beginning to thin and turn grey. Her eyes took in her daughter and half a moment later she was embracing Alessandria. 

“I am so glad to see you,” she cried, “I have missed you so!”

“I have missed you too, mother,” Alessandria replied. Charis felt frail and tiny in her arms. 

Charis pulled away from the hug, “Come, come eat something.” She said. 

Alessandria followed behind her mother, deeper into the cave that was their home. It was odd, Alessandria thought, have a place that had seemed not entirely real to her for so long come back in to solidity; conviction that it did, in fact, exist. 

“Come sit,” said Charis, “Tell me of what your life is like.”

“It is not very exciting anymore,” said Alessandria, “Now that we have taken what is ours back.”

“Surely,” said Charis, “You will go and conquer more land, beyond what once belonged to your country.”

“I do not know,” said Alessandria, “I would think a country that has had their land taken from them wouldn’t do that to other countries. At least not until everyone who was alive during that time has died.”

Charis seemed to consider this for a moment and, seemingly disliking it, she said, “Would you like to eat something? You should eat something, before you go and save Maris. It will keep up your strength.”

Alessandria was given food by Charis, and they ate quietly, Charis asking questions every so often and Alessandria giving answers that seemingly displeased her. 

Even so, Charis asked her daughter, “Will you stay the night? It will be no good for you to go and fight without any sleep.”

Alessandria gave this a moment’s thought, and though she felt like she should go to save Maris as soon as possible, her mother had a point. She was not quite as talented without any sleep. 

“Yes, but I must leave early. I am sure she can’t go on much longer.” Then, she ate another daisy and went to sleep.

In the morning, when Alessandria had gotten up and prepared herself for battle, Charis said goodbye to her at the front of the cave.

“Will you come back, do you think? After?” Charis asked. It is like a mother, to long after her children when they are no longer really children. 

Alessandria looked away from her gaze and spoke, “No, I do not think I will.” She looked as though she may apologize, but, glancing back at her mother, her lips remained shut. 

With that, she swam off to the sea caves. She headed for the largest one, assuming that the dragon would have to be in it, in order to fit anywhere. 

There, in the high ceilings of the cave, Alessandria found Maris sitting atop a pile of gold. Alessandria signaled to her to be quiet, thinking that it would be best to slay the dragon before trying to get the both of them to safety. She crept further into the cave, careful to make little noise and poised for attack.

Turning a corner, she saw the large beast, turned into a shadow in the low light. Alessandria came closer, unable to tell where its heart would be, and thus, unable to slay it. Then, as though it had heard her, the dragon’s eyes opened and it rose, towering over her. At first it seemed as though it would try and take Alessandria in its claw and crush her to death, but it was too large and clumsy to grab her. Realizing this, the dragon leaned over so it was on all four of its legs, its mouth preparing to burn Alessandria to a crisp. She managed to get out of the way just in time, but with the only light coming from the dragon’s flames and the soft belly of the dragon to the ground, she feared that she would be unable to slay the beast. She would need it to sit up again, and to take a guess at where the heart was.

If she could hide, she thought, it might sit up while looking for her. So she ran from the dragon’s fiery breath and tucked herself behind a rock. As she expected, the dragon sat up. There, she waited for the dragon to turn its belly towards her. She would have to be quick, she realized, as the dragon was already preparing to blow fire at her. 

Quickly, when the dragon turned, she stood and jumped from the rock into the air, her sword held above her head, hoping that it would find flesh.

It did, and when the dragon was stabbed, it made a sickening, squelching sound, and sucked in the breath that it had been taking. It began to fall forward, and so Alessandria jumped from where she was holding herself in place with her sword, and then pulled it out after she was no longer in danger.

Then, bloodied from the dragon and sweaty from herself, she went to take Maris from atop the pile of gold. 

When Alessandria called to her to let her know that it was safe, Maris flew down the pile of gold and flung herself into Alessandria’s arms. 

“Oh thank you!” Maris cried, “I knew you would come back for me! I knew it!”

Alessandria found herself puzzled as to what Maris was talking about, but she did not say anything. Instead, she gently hugged Maris back, and after what she considered to be an acceptable amount of time, she extracted herself from Maris’ arms. 

“Who are you staying with?” Maris asked.

Alessandria did not want to let her down, but did not see another way to approach the situation. “Maris,” she said, “I can no longer breathe underwater. I cannot stay.”

“Haven’t you got daisies?” Maris asked.

“Yes,” said Alessandria, looking away, “But they will run out.” Her voice became softer. “I do not belong here anymore, you know that.”

Maris nodded and looked down, sadly, like a young adult who has never been disappointed before, and is still childish in that matter.

Still, doing the best that she could think to do, Alessandria swam with Maris back to her home before swimming for land again.

When she returned to land, Alessandria only had a day before the ceremony, so she rode to the town outside the castle, got a room in an inn, and then fell asleep heavily, well deserved after what she had done.

The ceremony the next day was held on The Green,or  the castle lawn. When she arrived it was already crowded, though it was not set to start for at least another hour. When, just before it started, the queen arrived, a cheer went through the crowd, and it moved around and changed shape as people attempted to get closer to her. Alessandria had already been by where she had entered from, but within seconds she could no longer see the queen through the people.

For a moment, Alessandria caught a glimpse of Queen Adelaide, before the crowds shifted again. But in that moment she had seen her, red hair caught by the sun and green eyes glinting. 

The crowds shifted again and this time the queen was already looking in the direction of Alessandria. She caught her eye and smiled. 

Later, when Alessandria was to introduce herself to Queen Adelaide, she bowed her head and, boldly, kissed the top of her hand. There was a sort of jostling behind the queen at this, but Adelaide laughed and blushed, high on her cheeks, and so all was well. 

After that first interaction, the two fell together, Alessandria falling in love with both ease and speed. Alessandria would get called out from her parent’s home or the front to the castle, so that she might accompany the queen in a walk in the gardens or at tea, or to play a game of chess. Then, these short outings began to change to full days, then nights as well, and then occasionally full weeks, with Adelaide sending notice that she was relieving Alessandria of military duty for however long she chose. Eventually, one day, Adelaide asked, “Would you like to live here, in the castle with me?”

Alessandria, so very in love, nodded enthusiastically. Adelaide sent notice that Alessandria was relieved of her military duty indefinitely.

While living in the castle, she kept her communications with her parents, allies, and Percy, the latter’s letters Adelaide seemed to have quiet anger at.

“Do not worry about those,” Alessandria would say, smiling sweetly. “He is just a close friend.” And then, sometimes, she would add on, “He is not you.”

Adelaide would still look concerned, but then smile softly, to herself or in spite of herself, and all would be fine again.

One day, in Adelaide’s personal library, Alessandria found a book tucked away, clearly meant to be hidden but not put away carefully enough to be unseen. She pulled it out from the cut out in the bookshelf, knowing that she was not supposed to be lurking in that room, but curiosity getting the better of her. 

The bindings felt odd against her fingertips, not like the other books in the castle, with their smooth paper and fabric tassels. This book’s cover was rough and waxy, the pages in a similar state.

Alessandria gingerly flipped through it, her fingers catching on the grooves in the pages. She could read very little of it, the words were not from any language she knew, but eventually, she came upon a page with a mouse drawn in the corner.

It tugged on something in her mind, but it did not fully come together yet.

Then, she came across a page, still with unintelligible writing on it, splattered with colored liquid, but she saw her own name among the text. Amongst the words too were ones that looked like “favor” and “grieving”. It sent a sickening feeling through her gut, a warning that had saved her before and would save her again. This page meant her doom. 

It was similar to a feeling she had felt before. In the fields, when a mouse would come up to her, and save people from death only to have them die another way or warn her of things that were not worrisome.

The mouse's distaste for Percy also seemed to be shared with Adelaide.

Suddenly all made sense to Alessandria, that Adelaide was planning to kill her a play the grieving widow to earn favor with the people, and so she put the book away and left the castle within a moment. She ran to the stables to get Socius and soon enough they were in the fields beyond the castle. Alessandria hoped that she would be hidden away before anyone were to find that she was gone. 

She came upon the mountains that laid beyond the fields and climbed one, as it wasn’t too steep for Socius. There, Alessandria decided that the trees were thick enough to protect them for the night. 

As she was lying down to sleep, she thought to herself that she must go back soon, that she must return to kill Adelaide, but for the night, she could lie down and rest. Plans could be made in the morning. 

When Alessandria woke, she realized that the sooner she returned, the less suspicious she would look, but all of her weapons, save for her sword and a dagger that she had rarely used, were still in the castle with Adelaide. 

So she rode to her family’s house on the coast as fast as she could and gathered supplies there, scarcely giving Charles and Lydia an explanation. 

“I will be back soon,” Alessandria promised, frazzled, from atop her horse. 

“Be careful,” Lydia called after her. 

She made it back to the castle as night was falling, calmed from the long ride and prepared for what she had to do. 

“I am sorry I couldn’t give warning,” Alessandria said, kissing Adelaide’s cheek, “it was very urgent, I did not even have time to pack a bag for myself.”

“It’s alright, darling,” Adelaide responded, and for the first time, Alessandria noticed that her smile was sinister at the edges. 

They ate, silently, sitting at opposite ends of the long dining table that Alessandria had detested for so long, for it kept her far from Adelaide, but now, she was thankful for it. It gave her a few moments, to think and rest, before that evening. 

Adelaide did not question Alessandria’s silence, as she had already understood what was happening and what was to happen, though, at this time, she believed that she had nothing to fear. 

After dinner, they stood at the same time and went back to Adelaide’s rooms.

Then, in the middle of a sentence, Adelaide rounded on her and shoved her, hard enough that she fell against one of the hallway walls. It did not hurt her, but it shook her, and her hands fumbled on her way to her sword. 

While Alessandria was recovering, Adelaide became very calm. She stood still and squared her shoulders, and then struck her arms out very quickly, fingers grasping at seemingly nothing. Confused by Adelaide’s movements, Alessandria still saw an opportunity to strike, but when she tried to move her arm, she found that she could not. Adelaide looked at her and gave a dark smile. Alessandria realized that she was being kept in place with magic, and that she would be frozen unless she could fight it off. 

Adelaide began to squeeze her hand around air, and Alessandria di not understand until she felt something grab onto her heart and begin to crush it.

“I did not expect,” Adelaide said, panting with exertion, “to have to use this method with you. I had wanted to poison you in your sleep. But this will work as well.”

Alessandria, slowly, could begin to move her fingers again, with Adelaide’s power weakening from the amount that she was using all at once. Alessandria understood, Adelaide had not been training for this kind of struggle, and was not prepared to handle it. She would survive if she could sap enough of her energy.

Adelaide was sweating profusely now, unable to keep up any sort of threatening demeanor. Alessandria could start to feel her arm again, but her heart was faring far worse, the phantom hand so strong that she could begin to feel the nails of Adelaide’s hand cut into her heart. Only a few moments more, she hoped.

Then, with a great sigh from Adelaide, Alessandria found that she could move again, though could not breathe properly. She frantically tried to get her breath back and glanced over to where Adelaide was standing, slumped against the opposite wall, looking as though she were about to faint, and tired. 

Slowly, Alessandria pushed away from the wall and walked towards her, sword in hand. Adelaide looked at her from under heavily lidded eyes, and in them Alessandria could see that the other knew what was to come, but could no longer manage to fight it, for she was too weak.

Alessandria nudged her with her sword, so that she was leaning against the wall, facing Alessandria fully, and then, in one easy movement, she thrust her sword into Adelaide’s chest. She pulled the sword out and Adelaide fell to the ground.

Alessandria kneeled beside her. Adelaide’s was chest sticky with blood, and Alessandria’s own hands were stained as well. Suddenly, she dropped her sword. It was time to make a new one, she thought to herself, and slowly raised herself from where she had been kneeling over the body. Her armor creaking, she leaned over once more and kissed Adelaide on the cheek. It was still warm. 

Then, wearily, she straightened and made her way out of the castle, slipping amongst the shadows. She found Socius where she had left him and led him to a stream, where first, the two of them drank, and then Alessandria bathed, washing Adelaide’s blood from her skin and hair. She took out a shirt and trousers from one of the packs on Socius’ back, that she had packed while at her parents house and got dressed, taking her bloodied clothes and leaving her armor by the riverside.

The rosy fingers of dawn began to creep into the sky, and Alessandria rode back towards her parents’ home.

When she arrived, Lydia was still awake, and she looked as though she might have not slept very much since the morning before.

Still, she looked relieved to see Alessandria. Lydia hugged her as soon as she saw her.

“What have you gone off to do now?” she asked.

Alessandria explained the events of the nights before.

“Are you grieving?”asked Lydia.

“I do not know,” said Alessandria back.

“Alright,” Lydia said, “Give me a moment.”

She went to the second floor and came back soon after.

“Come here,” Lydia said. She had a basin of water in her hands and a pair of scissors.

Alessandria did as she was told, and slowly, Lydia cut off her hair to the point of making her unrecognizable.

“There are enough blonde people in this town,” she said, “it will be harder for them to find you if it’s not as long.”

She continued cutting, “You know that the only ones who will be after you will be the royal guards, yes?”

Alessandria gave a nod.

“Don’t move your head when I’m cutting, you want it to look good, don’t you?” she went back to her earlier train of thought. “And you know you hold more of the public’s favor than Queen Adelaide did?”

“Yes,” Alessandria said this time.

“Then here’s what you must do: Go hide in the mountains for a short while, and once they find someone new to rule, you may come back, and no one will care anymore. We will send someone to you when it is time”

Soon after, Lydia finished with her hair and sent her out to her horse. A few minutes later, she came out with a bundle in her hands, “Go now, before anyone else wakes. It’s still early enough for you to travel. And take these, Charles doesn’t wear them anymore. They’ll aid you more than him. Your cloak is also in there, in case it is cold again before you may come back.”

Alessandria climbed onto Socius. She was just about to leave when she turned back and began, “And Percy-” only to be cut off by Lydia.

“I’ll tell him where you are.”

Alessandria smiled her thanks, and then galloped towards the mountains, the sun rising above the sea’s edge. 

When she made it to the mountains, she went as far as she believed she could with Socius, and then began to look for food and shelter. 

She realized, quickly, that she would need to get a new sword and other weapons from somewhere, for she was without her sword and armor. She decided that, if she went under a cover of darkness, she’d be able to get to the town beyond the fields and hills during the night, but supplies during the day, and then come back the next night. 

One of the few things she did have with her were a collection of coins at the bottom of the saddlebags on Socius’ back, enough to at least get a knife, which would certainly make her time in the mountains easier to bear. 

She carried out her plan without a problem, and within the following months she made a life for herself on the side of the mountain. The trees changed, from pink blossoms to green leaves to fiery red ones, and so time passed.

In the afternoon of one of the first few autumnal days, she heard a voice call her name. Turning, she saw Percy standing on the before her campsite ridge.

She ran to him, and they embraced. Pulling away, Alessandria asked, “Is it safe to come back?”

“Yes, it is, there is a new ruler, no one is looking for you anymore.”

“Good,” she smiled, “I will be happy to go back. It is too late to go today, though, we will not be able to see down the mountain and the sun will set before we are at the bottom. Will you stay the night here?”

Percy gave a nod, and so Alessandria decided to show him around the area, all the places where she collected berries or hunted for animals and soon, the sun was going down, and they had to prepare for their evening meal. 

At the campfire that night, Percy asked, “How are you faring? I know that you loved her very much. I can’t imagine any of this was easy on you.”

Alessandria looked down at the cup in her hands and after a long moment, said, “It is a terrible, awful thing to fall out of love with someone. But it is necessary, sometimes.” Then, looking up, she said “I would be dead now, if I hadn’t stopped loving her in that moment.” She had meant for it to come out like a joke, perhaps to hide a truth, but it came out too serious for that.

Later, after they had finished eating and had laid down to sleep, Percy said, “I’m sorry.”

“Why?” Alessandria asked. “You didn’t cause it.”

“Yes, but still, I’m sorry you had to live through that.”

The next morning, the sun rose, and they both slept through it, or at least pretended to, and then upon waking, gave stretches and said “It is too late, now, to go today,” “Yes the sun will be down before we are halfway there,” “We can wait another day.”

This went on for some time, the two of them avoiding going back and not giving proper reason as to why. Alessandria had begun to assume that they would never talk about it, and they would stay on the mountain until the winter came. Then, during one of these days, Percy asked, “Do you ever think of just staying up here?”

“Is that not what we are doing right now?”

“No, I mean,” Percy shuffled his feet, “forever?”

“We do not have any shelter that would survive the winter.”

“Well, maybe not staying on the mountain. But not staying back home, either.”

“Do you mean simply living away from home?”

“Yes.”

“Then yes. Sometimes I think it would be much easier to leave everything that happened there, and living somewhere far away.”

“Would you like to?” Percy asked.

“I do not know.”

In the middle of that night, just as Alessandria was drifting off to sleep, her eyes flicked open as she was struck with a thought, that she had fallen in love again. 

When they were both awake the next morning, Alessandria turned to Percy and asked, “Where do you suppose we go?”

“I thought that, maybe, we could find somewhere to live on the other side of the mountain. It could be on the beach, if you like.”

Alessandria smiled at him, and then kissed him. He turned red and looked away, but smiled back all the same. 

The next day, they rode across the mountain. Together, they found a house on the beach, smaller than her parent’s, and not on a cliff, but made of similar stone. This, Alessandria knew, was where she was meant to live. Then, she went to the blacksmith in the nearby town, and arranged to make another sword.

After all of these events, long enough that Alessandria was no longer in the midst of them but instead in the phase of reflection that comes after things that change our lives, she was awoken one night. Walking to the window, she opened it carefully, not wanting to wake Percy, and found a crow perched on the tree below. 

“Hello,” she said, “it has been a while since we have seen each other. Are you still an oracle?”

The Crow gave an affirmative sound. 

“Good. Then, is it over?”

“So they oft-

Say,” sang The Crow, “‘Is this

O’er? Will normal

Times return?’

Sweetheart, yes.

Time moves.”

The Crow stopped singing, and for a moment, Alessandria thought it would fly away, but instead, it gave a croak, and then cawed out, “ _ Consummatum est _ .” Then, it gave a mighty beat of its wings, and flew away, towards the sea.

Still leaning out the window, the breeze beginning to tug out the curtains into the night, Alessandria repeated the words to herself, “It is finished.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Here's some cool stuff I did in the story:
> 
> -A muse is invoked at the beginning to give it that ~epic~ feel  
> -All of the names of the mermaids are Roman and Greek names, while all of the humans have names from ~19th century England. Maris' name means of the sea in Latin, while Socius means companion, ally, or partner.  
> -The Fish and Crow speak in dactylic hexameter, which is what the Oracle of Delphi spoke in, as well as what Homeric myths were written in.  
> -The reason daisies allow for Alessandria to breathe underwater is because of quite a lot of symbolism. Water symbolizes purity and fertility. Daisies symbolize purity and are the flowers of Freya, the Norse goddess of fertility.  
> -When Adelaide first appears, her red hair and green eyes are commented on because, in the Middle Ages, people with that combination were believed to be witches.  
> -The last words of The Crow and the last words of the story are "It is finished" because it was the last recorded thing the Oracle of Delphi said. It's in Latin before Alessandria translates because that's what the Oracle would have been speaking in at the time. 
> 
> That's all! I hope you enjoyed!


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